Police lock



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POLICE LOCK 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Jan.` 24, 1969 FIG.

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POLICE'LOCK Filed Jari. 24, 1969 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fla-6 FIG] " sept-. 8, 1970 M. A.- GERvlsl ET AL 3,527,068

y v POLICE Loox Filed Jan. 24. 1969 y s sheets-sheet s United States Patent O 3,527,068 POLICE LOCK Melvyn A. Gervis, Haworth, and Eugene Taras Wozny,

Harrington Park, NJ., and Nicholas Giardina, Mount Vernon, N.Y., assignors to Magic Eye Associates, Inc.,

New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Jan. 24, 1969, Ser. No. 793,816 Int. Cl. E05b 65/00 U.S. Cl. 70-94 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A police lock is disclosed which may be locked in a deadlocked condition, or unlocked from the outside by a key actuatable member, and/or from the inside by a manually actuatable member.

The present invention relates to la police lock which can be actuated to a locked or unlocked position from either the inside or the outside of the protected premises.

While police locks have been known for decades, their use has become widespread only in recent years as a result of the increased concern of apartment dwellers for the safety of their person and their property. Police locks are most often used to provide supplementary protection to the more conventionally used bolt locks, and are generally locked and unlocked separately from the operation of the bolt lock. The typical police lock comprises a lock housing secured to the inner surface lof the door, and a bar the lower end of which is received in a recess formed in the floor near the door. The upper end of that bar is received in a member which is movable in the lock housing between two operative positions. In a first of these positions, which defines an unlocked condition, the upper end of the bar is free to slide past the movable member and along a fixed member which is at that time in substantial registration with the movable member. In the second operative position, 'which defines a locked condition, the upper end of the bar engages an abutment formed in the lock housing whereby upper movement of the bar is prevented |and inward movement of the door is effectively prevented. Thus, even if the bolt lock is jimmied open or otherwise released by a would-be burglar, the police lock remains effective to prevent the burglar from entering the premises, the rbar remaining locked in its position between the oor and the inner surface of the door to prevent further inward movement of the door. The conventional police lock may be locked or unlocked from the outside of the premises, usually by means of a key inserted into the lock. The key positions a set of tumblers to permit the movable member to be moved between its two operative (i.e. locking and unlocking) positions as described Iabove. From the interior of those premises, the police lock may be locked =by moving the bar and the movable member into position for locking, and can be unlocked from the inside by a similar but reverse movement of the bar.

There are two kinds of lockingnormal locking and deadlocking. In normal locking the locked element can be manually pushed to unlocked position even though the lock-actuation mechanism is not moved. In deadlocking the locked element is positively held in locked position, from which it can be moved only when the keycontrolled lock-actuation mechanism is actuated. In a police lock, if the bar, when once moved to locking position from the outside of the door, could not be moved back to unlocked position from the inside of the door, a person in the house or apartment when the police lock is locked from the outside could not get out. The lock would have to be opened from the outside before the bar of the police lock would be moved to unlocked position. This would make the occupant of the protected premises virtually a prisoner. Ac-

ice

cordingly, in the past police locks were locked but not deadlocked.

However, this lack of deadlocking itself represents a serious security drawback, particularly in the case of police locks, where the difference between locked and unlocked condition is determined by the lateral positioning of the exposed upper end of the locking bar. Without deadlocking, jiggling of the door, or the passage of an instrument under the door so as to engage the bar and move it to one side or the other, might Well cause the Ibar to move from locking to unlocking position, thus permitting access to the premises supposedly protected by the police lock.

Thus the usual non-deadlocked police lock permitted a person remaining in the protected premises to manually move the bar between locking and unlocking positions, thus enabling that person to enter or leave the premises or permitting him to enable others to do so, but only at the expense of a potentially very serious diminution 0f protection. The significance of this loss of safety will be apparent when it is remembered that one of the main functions of a lock of this type is to protect the premises during the night, when the occupants are asleep. If that protection can be circumvented, as is the case with a nondeadlock police lock, the value of that lock may be more illusory than real.

It is for these reasons that police locks, though potentially providing a very high degree of protection, are not very widely used. If they locked with a deadlock they could not be manipulated from inside the premises and would make prisoners of those in the premises. Since this was inadmissable, police locks have not been deadlocked, and hence it possible for them to be opened from the outside by would-be intruders.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a police lock which can be operated with equal facility to deadlock and unlock a door or the like from both within and outside the protected premises.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a police lock which can be deadlocked from outside the protected premises by means of a key actuated member, and also deadlocked from within those premises by means of a manually operated member.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a police lock in which, when the lock is in its locked condition, it is deadlocked irrespective of the manner in which it was locked.

To these ends, the present invention provides a police lock positioning a bar in either a locked or unlocked condition. That lock comprises a fixed member and a movable member, the bar being received at all times within a first groove formed in the movable member. A second groove and a stop or abutment are formed in the fixed member. Means are provided to move the movable member to a first or locking position in which the bar engages bar, and to a second or unlocked position in which the first and second grooves are in substantial alignment with one another so that the bar is free to slide upwards along the second groove. The means for moving the movable member between its two operative (i.e., locking and unlocking) positions, are twofold in nature. One comprises a key actuatable member which is accessible at one side (the outside) of the lock housing and comprises a pin which is movable into and out of operative engagement with the deadlocking mechanism directly connected to the movable member. The other comprises a manually actuatable member which is accessible at the other side (the inside) of the lock housing and comprises a pin which operatively engages the deadlocking mechanism directly connected to the movable member. That pin is effective, when appropriately moved, to move the movable member between unlocked and deadlocked position, and to disengage the deadlocking mechanism from the key-actuated pin when appropriate.

To the accomplishment of the above, and to such other objects as may hereinafter appear, the present invention relates to the construction manner of use of a police lock as defined in the accompanying claims and as described in this specification, taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the police lock of the present invention as arranged on the inner wall of a door, with the bracing bar shown in broken lines in a locked condition;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing the bracing bar moved to an unlocked position;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. l;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 4 4 of FIG. .2;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 8-8 of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 9-9 of FIG. 6.

The police lock of this invention comprises a housing generally designated 14 which carries the operative parts of the lock. The housing comprises a base 15 adapted to be secured to a door 11, as by screws 12. A cover 16 is secured to base 15, as by screw 17, which passes through cover 16 and is threaded into boss 19 on base 15. The cover 16 has a raised portion 16' with an opening 21 extending the full length thereof and extending across the bottom wall thereof. A bight or loop 28 extends across the upper end of opening 21. The upper part of the cover 16 is inset at its lower surface to dene an abutment 24, and on its outwardly disposed surface carries a groove 26 open at both its lower and upper ends, in registration with the upper part of opening 21. A movable member 18 is mounted within housing 14 so as to be laterally slidable therein between the rightand left-hand positions shown in FIGS. l and 2 respectively. A portion 30 of member 18 is received between a cover part 25 and base 15. An enlarged lower portion 31 of member 18 is received below cover part 2'5, and carries on its outwardly disposed surface a channel or groove 20. When the movable member 18 is in its left-hand (unlocking) position, groove 20 registers with groove 26, and when the movable member 18 is in its right-hand (locking) position groove 20 registers with abutment 24.

The lock is used in conjunction with a rigid rod or bar 22 the lower end of which (not shown) is adapted to be received within a recess or socket in the floor near the door. The upper end of bar 22 is adapted to be received in groove 20 on movable member 18 and to be moved thereby into registration with groove 26 or abutment 24. When the door 11 starts to open and the bar 22 is in registration with groove 26, the upper end of the bar slides along groove 26 and inside loop 28, thus permitting the door to open further. The door is seen to be then unlocked. When the door 11 starts to open and the bar 22 is in registration with abutment 24, the upper end of the bar almost immediately engages abutment 24, further opening of the door thereafter being positively prevented. The door is seen to be then locked. This is all typical of police locks.

In accordance with the present invention, lateral movement is imparted to the moving member 18 to deadlock it in locked position by means accessible and actuatable from both sides of the door. As particularly described herein, the lock may be actuated from the outside of the door by a key actuatable mechanism, and from the inside of the door by a manually actuated mechanism.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and `6, arm 32 is pivotally mounted on pin 34 projecting from portion 30 of member 18, and a resilient wire 36 is wound around pin 34. One end of wire 36 rests on a ridge 38 extending from arm 32 and the other end of wire 36 is received in a slot 39 formed in an end wall 40 of member portion 30. Wire 36 is effective to bias arm 32 against a stop 42 projecting from base 15. The free end of arm 32 is provided with an opening 44 extending through arm 32, and an open ended groove or cut-out 46 which may be in the form of an upside-down U as shown, is formed at one side of arm 32 and communicates with the termination of opening 44 (as may best be seen in FIG. 8).

The key actuated mechanism is in the form of an arm 48 extending into the interior of lock housing 14 and operatively connected to a rotatable member 49 so as to rotate therewith when a proper key 52 is inserted into barrel and turned, as in conventional lock actuation. Arm 48 carries a pin 54 which is adapted to be received within the cut-out 46.

The manually actuated mechanism for moving the moving member 18 between its two operative positions comprises a knob `56 passing through cover 16 into the interior of housing 14 and carrying at its inner end a second arm 58 (FIG. 7) which rotates along with knob 56. Arm 58 carries at its end a pin 60` which at all times is received in opening 44 in the arm 32.

The operation of either the manual or key actuated mechanism is effective independently of the condition of the other mechanism to impart the desired lateral movement to the moving member 18. When the member 18 is in the locked position shown in FIG. 5, it is deadlockedthe member 18 is not free to move laterally. The lock can be unlocked manually from inside the door by rotating knob 56 in a counter-clockwise direction (as viewed in FIG. 2), thereby to cause arm 58 to rotate, which in turn causes pin 60 and the free end of arm 32 to follow a counter-clockwise arcuate path as viewed in FIG. 5. This in turn causes arm 32 to move in an arcuate path towards the left until it once again cornes to rest on projection 42 (FIG. 6). That movement of arm 32 pulls movable member 18 to the left, via pin 34, until it reaches its unlocking position. Vertical movement of member 18 is limited by a horizontal ledge 62 extending from base 15. When member 18 is in its unlocking position its groove 20 is brought into alignment with groove 26 so as to permit bar 22 to slide along the latter.

If the previous locking actuation of the lock had been effected by the key actuated mechanism, the pin 54 which can be rotated as described above only when the tumblers are raised by the insertion of the key, would have been received within cut-out 46. The movement of the arm 32 by the actuation of the knob 56 must be made in a manner which will not cause the pin S4 to rotate while still permitting the moving member 18 to be moved to its other operative position. Thus, when the end of arm 32 is initially raised upward upon the initial rotation of arm 58, arm 32 will move up from stationary pin 54 until the latter is released from cut-out 46. Further rotation of arm 32 towards its second operative position (FIG. 6) as a result of the further rotation of knob 56 will thus be effected without affecting the static position of pin 54.

If it is desired to then manually actuate the lock to a locked position, the knob 56 is rotated in an opposite or clockwise direction to rotate arm 58 and pin 60A in an opposite direction and thus to cause movement of arm 32 and movable member 18 towards the right in FIG. 6, thereby to move groove 20 out of alignment with groove 26 and into alignment with abutment 24. A locking operation can be performed only when the door is closed and the tip of bar 22 does not extend beyond groove 20. During the last part of the movement of arm 32 its cut-out 46 will seat itself on pin 54.

The operation of the key actuatable mechanism to either lock or unlock the police lock is performed by the insertion and rotation of key 52 in barrel 50 to free pin 54 for rotation. The rotation of key 52 causes arm 48 and thus pin 54 to rotate. The initial rotation of pin 54 will be effective to reinsert pin 54 into cut-out 46 if it was not already there, and further rotation of pin 54 will be effective to articulate the arm 32 in a manner similar to that described above with reference to the manually controlled operation of the lock, to move arm 32 and the movable member 18 laterally into or out of its locked position. During the key-controlled operation of the lock, pin 60 remains within opening 44, so that the knob 56 will also rotate, that knob remaining connected to member 18 and hence ready for manual lock actuation.

Once the member 18 is in one of its operative positions, it can only be moved to the other of its positions by the movement of arm 32. As a result of the manner in which arm 32 is engaged by pin 60 (and by pin 54 if the previous lock operation was key-actuated), lateral movement of the arm 32 is not possible without the rotation of arm 48 or 58, and thus arm 32 and member 18 are rigidly maintained in position in a deadlocked condition from which they can be moved only by the subsequent operation of either the knob 56 or the key-actuated mechanism. That dead-locked condition of member 18 is obtained for either operative position of member 18 (whether locked or unlocked) and is independent of the means by which member 18 was moved to that position.

The present invention has thus provided a police lock of the type in which a bar is received in a movable groove and is adapted to be positioned in either of two operative positions for locking or unlocking depending upon whether the movable groove is placed out of or into alignment with a fixed groove formed in the lock housing. The movable groove is either dead-locked or dead-unlocked. The movable groove is operatively connected to a mechanism which is independently actuated either by a key actuated means accessible from one side of thedoor or by a manually actuated means accessible from the other side of the door. In this manner, the door carrying the police lock may be either locked or unlocked from inside or outside the premises, thus providing increased flexibility andy convenience of use of the police lock. The police lock of this invention, when locked, is always in a deadlocked condition from which it cannot be shaken loose or unlocked, irrespective of the means (key-actuated or manual-actuated) by which the locking mechanism was moved to that locked position. The police lock of this invention, when it is locked from within as well as from without the protected premises, is thus substantially incapable of being jimmied open by a would-be burglar or intruder. The lock may be manually unlocked from within the premises after it has been locked from without, or vice versa. The manually controlled mechanism operates in a manner which does not affect the key controlled mechanism, so that the police lock may be completely controlled from within.

The police lock of this invention thus provides greater convenience and flexibility of use and provides greater protection than that provided by the known police locks.

While only a single embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed and described herein, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many variations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the following claims.

We claim:

l1. A police lock adapted to receive a bar in either a locked or an unlocked condition, said lock comprising a housing, a fixed member on said housing having a first groove open at the front of said housing, stop means on said housing, a movable member mounted on said housing and having a second groove adapted to receive the upper end of said bar, means located in said housing and operatively connected to said movable member and effective when actuated to move said movable member between a rst position in which said first and second grooves are in substantial alignment to permit axial movement of the bar past said second groove and along said first groove, thereby to define an unlocked condition, and a second position in which said second groove is out of alignment with said first groove and in alignment with said stop means, thereby to prevent axial movemest of the bar along said first groove and to define a locked condition, key actuatable means accessible at the rear of said housing including first means extending into said housing and movable into and out of operative engagement with said moving means, said key actuatable means being effective when actuated to first operatively engage said first means and said moving means if said first means is not operatively engaged thereto, and then to actuate said moving means, and manually actuatable means accessible at the front of said housing and including second means extending into said housing and operatively connected to said moving means and effective when actuated to actuate said moving means and to release said iirst means from said moving means if the former is then operatively engagedto the latter.

2. The police lock of claim 1, in which said moving means comprises an arm operatively connected at one end to said movable member effective when articulated to move said movable member between its said first and second positions and having an opening and an open-ended cutout formed at its other end, said first means comprising first pin means releasably received in said cutout, said second means comprising second pin means fixedly received in said opening, said key actuatable means being effective to insert said first pin means in said cutout and to actuate said first pin means once it is in said groove, thereby to articulate said arm, said manually actuatable means being effective to actuate said second pin means, thereby to articulate said arm and to release said first pin means from said cutout.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 977,182 11/1910 Fuchs 70-94 977,183` ll/ 1910 Fuchs 70-94 977,31 6 l'l/ 1910 Kohn 701-94 1,542,997 6/ 1925 Finkelstein 70-94 2,301,810 1/1/ 1942 Phillips 292-33 8 RICHARD E. MOORE, Primary Examiner E. J. MCOARTHY, Assistant 'Examiner 

